The Courtship
by Skeren Dreamera
Summary: Kakashi has lived a fairly straightforward life in the years since the war. Apparently, that doesn't really sit well with his students, and they decide that it's their job to help. If that means dragging him into a relationship with them? Well, that just means they care.
1. Chapter 1

Since the war, things had been different.

There were a great many unsubtle changes at the start. Being appointed to the Hokage position, whether he wanted to be or not, was definitely at the top of this list. It wasn't the thing that best stuck in his mind, even if it was the thing that took over his time and tethered him in place when he wanted nothing more than to sit back and breathe for a while. Another change was in the way people regarded each other, at first. It made a treaty easy, but it also made what follows a treaty harder.

Without a war, shinobi were obsolete after all, and he was nothing if not a child of war. He was hardly the only one.

The changes were not all so obvious as that though. There were the smaller ones too, and somehow, these were the most shaking. Some of the younger generation, for instance, saw through the lie of nothing else having gone wrong. Then again, one doesn't lose an arm when nothing goes wrong, now do they? They didn't tell what happened while everyone else slept, and he was going to keep it that way, no matter the suspicions from some.

For once, he had the power to protect his students from the world, and he would take it, no matter how badly the one he was protecting most might have hurt him in his actions.

It was nothing to how the boy had hurt himself.

In light of that, punishing him would serve no purpose but to make the other two more miserable, and what was the point in that? Thus, the secret that happened while the others slept remained so, and all was blamed on Kaguya. And when he chose to leave for a while? He'd let him go, to make his peace, and just hoped that he'd come back. For the sake of the other two, at the very least, who had never loosened their grip on him in their hearts.

From there, other things had changed, and he'd finally come to know the boy who had stood in for Sasuke. They were nothing alike, but he made Yamato happy, and that was nothing to scoff at. If it made him feel a bit alone to see one of his few friends happy, well, there was no harm in that as long as he kept it to himself. It wasn't as though he didn't have more than ample amounts of work to keep him busy and distracted after all.

Gai helped. Unfortunately, Gai had also been in a great deal of pain, and sometimes being around him became far too many tears for him to handle. He'd tried though, and his awkward attempts at cheering up his self-declared Rival seemed to be enough for the man, even if they only distracted him in fleeting moments. Thankfully, for the first months, the man's injuries meant that that was all the time he served awake, letting him escape to sort himself out after and brace for the next visit.

The relief when a visit went without tears or a too-serious expression on Gai's face was intense enough that he had to lean on the wall upon leaving the room. The man would get better. He would be healthy again, and his heart would heal. Anything else would have been one more weight on him that he just didn't think the world should bear, not with as much sorrow as lingered in a pall over those who had lost loved ones.

Such was the end of any war, but that didn't make it any better to see. He was glad when that heavy height of it started to go away.

It had reminded him too much of things long lost and recently dashed to pieces again.

At the end of the day though... the changes kept coming, and while tiring, it was good to see the village change, in certain ways. If he was watching from the viewpoint of not the Hokage, it would be better, but it wasn't as though there was anyone else left to carry the burden, and Tsunade managed to escape it on grounds of being too old and battle weary to take it back up after being ripped in half, and good riddance to a young person's game. He didn't buy it, and he knew she knew he didn't buy it, but he really wasn't in a position to make her take it _back_, now was he?

Hokage or not, it would take a far stupider man than he to try to force the Lady Tsunade to do anything she didn't please.

That Naruto had done just that in the past only meant that he was a lucky idiot, not that he wanted to take after his student. Somehow, he was sure he wasn't cute enough to evade her wrath if he tried. Sometimes, it was tempting anyway.

Thus time came to that morning, nearly four years after the war, when everything had finally started to find a rhythm, and he no longer needed to watch everything so carefully.

Sasuke had been back in the village, mostly, for years, Naruto had looked to be going after Hinata, and Sakura had finally marshaled up the drive to give Sasuke another go, with much more success than last time.

In essence, he was under the impression that his loved ones had all started to settle into happy places, with him and Gai being the two watching over the assembled collection together.

Many things would happen that morning that would make him wonder how he'd been so horribly glaringly wrong about what he'd observed, and how he could possibly have missed that things were really, really not gong the way that he thought they were.

The first thing to fall out of sync with expectation was, jarringly enough, Gai.

When Kakashi had gotten up that morning, he'd done things the way he normally did, ambling out of his door and off toward his office in no great hurry.

Gai, apparently still on his laps, which was a little weird considering how late it was for that warm up, had crossed his path. He'd been curious enough to veer off course himself, which had, of course, gotten the other man's attention, and he'd slowed so that they could talk without struggling to hear each other.

"My dear Rival! It is not often you join me in my training in such a spirited way! While I do not protest, it does leave me curious what brings this change of heart to the idea of running laps!" The grin that followed didn't have anything hidden in it, so how was he to know where this conversation was to go?

"No change of heart, just curious why you're doing it so close to noon." He didn't give any speculation on what else it could be, because they hadn't had a challenge that Gai could have lost in... over a week now actually, and unless he had fumbled something in his training, something that Gai didn't tend to _do_, he couldn't think of any other reason for him to have penance laps. Had he been at this since dawn maybe?

"Ah! These are Celebratory Laps! I have convinced the one I was trying to woo to go on a date with me!" He followed his words with a fist pump, but Kakashi had ground to a halt at the news that Gai was interested in _anyone_. Sure, he didn't begrudge Gai the idea in theory, but why now all of the sudden? And who was it? How had he missed it?

His silence, and sudden departure from Gai's side, was probably why the man circled back, and he finally came to a halt in front of him to put his hands on his shoulders. "My Rival, is all well?"

While his mind was still in shock, it seemed that his autopilot was working just fine, and he nodded his head. "Fine, fine, just surprised. So, you have a date?" He managed to focus with the grounding weight of Gai's hands on his shoulders. He didn't want the man to think he wasn't happy for him after all. He was. He was just... baffled.

"I do! I am greatly excited by this, thus I decided to run! I cannot do as many as I once could just yet, it's true, but it is still enough for a proper celebration! But you must not tell my students, for they would be greatly crushed if this does not go as well as I hope."

While Gai looked very serious in declaring this, all Kakashi could think was that it probably wouldn't be his _students_ who would be sad if the date went poorly. Still, he kept his mouth shut, since there was no reason for him to go spoiling the man's day. He'd prod him for details later if he didn't start singing the praises of whoever this was.

If he hadn't been already at least. He'd have to work that one out later though. No reason to give away that he couldn't immediately point at someone and go 'that's the one Gai likes'. Especially when he really _should_ be able to do that.

"I'm sure it'll go fine." He lifted one of his hands between them and waved it casually as though wafting away the worry. "You just get back to your celebration and let me know how it goes."

The smile he got was as brilliant as Gai's ever were, and he felt his own lips, hidden by the mask, tip up in turn. If this news made Gai smile like that again, he'd take it, even if it did leave him feeling awkward with unasked questions and unpicked observations. With a cheery 'I shall!' Gai was off again, and Kakashi looked after him for a moment in thoughtful silence before turning and resuming his walk to the tower.

He was surprised, confused, and somewhat happy for his friend. That was more than enough of a muddle for one day, and he'd have been perfectly content to leave it at that.

The universe, on the other hand, had apparently decided that he'd settled too firmly into his routine, and wanted to get all the shaking over with all at once instead of letting him adjust to the changes it was going to inflict on him in individual increments. To be fair, the universe probably had a point, and at least he'd have ample time to recover afterward if it didn't fling anything else at him.

Maybe.

Probably not, but the thought was still nice, and if he'd realized that his trio of students all converging on him shortly before he would have reached the tower meant that he'd be getting any downtime effectively sealed away forever, he probably would have run instead of lifting his hand in a little wave at them as their presence in his path made him halt.

"Yo." When no immediate answer was forthcoming, he looked from one student to the next, honestly baffled why Naruto, at least, wasn't speaking up.

It was even more bewildering when it was Sasuke who broke the silence, given that that student, of all of them, tended to avoid being the spokesman like the plague. "We've been talking."

The first words being spoken clearly broke whatever the cause of the tension was, and he turned his head to look at Naruto as the blond picked up the thread. "Yeah, see, we've been talking and we kind of noticed some stuff. So, you know, we need to talk to you too." One hand had drifted behind his head with a sheepish smile, and the other waved at Kakashi like he was worried he'd miss who he was talking about.

He wasn't given a chance to interject before Sakura started talking though. "Right! And it's not something for being out in the middle of the village, or even your office, so, we thought maybe we could drag you back to your place for the talk? If that's alright with you! If you have something really important to get to we can wait a little while, but it really should happen soon, okay?"

It never failed to be amusing when both boys were giving someone the same look, in this case it was disbelief aimed at Sakura, but he couldn't find as much humor in it because when was the last time these three had ever come to talk to him about anything, really? If it was just one of them, it wouldn't be so strange, but as a unit? Unusual, and worrying enough to put any sense of humor right out of his head.

Better to get it out of the way now instead of drawing it out. "Fine, we can talk now. It's not like the office would miss me yet." He waved it off, then turned to start on his way back home. It was closer than any of their apartments, and the quicker he found out what was bothering these three, the better.

The walk wasn't entirely silent, and the three kept trading looks as they flanked him like he couldn't see what they were doing. At one point Naruto even opened his mouth like he was going to start in on whatever this was about before they managed to get out of the public eye. Clearly Sakura thought that too because one of her pointy elbows found its way into Naruto's stomach without her missing a step. That gesture, they at least didn't pretend he couldn't see, and he earned a bright smile from the woman for his sidelong glance at her.

Despite that though, the walk had a strange air to it, and he would be relieved when it was done, a fact which had him opening his door and ushering them inside before going to plant himself in his chair so they could sit on the couch, waving them to it. "Alright, what's going on?"

Naruto hurried over, Sakura walked normally, and Sasuke hesitated. Interesting. Even more so when the first two sat and the last ended up standing behind them, clearly too unsettled to be properly stationary. Naruto, on the other hand, just looked excited, and Kakashi quickly decided that the mixed signals would not give him a headache. He refused. Instead, he would hear them out and give whatever advice they needed from him so they could be off doing whatever it was they did when they weren't working.

Sakura clearly intended to be the one to talk, and was even opening her mouth to give him some kind of statement that would no doubt not leave him as blindsided as what Naruto cut across her to assault him with. "Kakashi-sensei, you've looked super lonely lately, more than normal, and we decided that we wanted you to be with us!"

Sakura's immediate rebuttal of a punch to the side of the head, and Sasuke's facepalm, by no means made him believe that he could have heard that correctly. They were compelling, but there was several points in that sentence that made no sense at all. One, Naruto was with Hinata, he thought, two, the statement implied all three of them were together, which he hadn't thought was going on either, and lastly, he was _not_ lonely. He was just fine as he was. Mostly. Until the Gai thing this morning. Which was really strange timing, come to think of it, but the three were looking at him, so clearly he was expected to say something.

"If you wanted to train you just needed to say so." Because that was all they meant. They were worried and wanted him to look less sad. That had to be it. Nothing to do with relationships and he'd entirely misunderstood.

Naruto was shaking his head, but this time Sakura got a hand over his mouth before he could get any words out so she could talk. "No, Sensei, we don't mean like that. We're worried, and we've all come to agree that we all are very attached to you in our own ways and want you to be happy, so... we'd like you to be in a relationship, with the three of us, you know, as a group."

He needed a moment to think and latched onto the first question that crossed his mind. "So Hinata-?"

Sasuke was the one who answered him. "Dating Shino for the last year."

Which was not the answer he'd been expecting at all. Bewildered about how removed he'd gotten from the rest of the village with his workload in the last couple years to not have noticed, he had to wonder if the concern wasn't perhaps somewhat warranted. Still, it wasn't as though he could actually accept. They were worried, and that was nice of them, but he was a grown man and could handle his own hurts without burdening someone else with them. He had just opened his mouth to decline when Sakura cut him off, some steel in her eyes that made him lean a bit away from the group of them on reflex.

"Don't just say no Sensei. We've been keeping an eye on you, and you're not doing so well. You look tired, you're not eating right, and even Sasuke thinks you're being too withdrawn." The frown that Sasuke leveled at the back of her head was soundly ignored. By her at least. Naruto shot the Uchiha a grin. Then they all looked back at him as she kept talking. "So don't just say no because you're trying to do right by us. We're not going to be happy while you're like this. And yes it is a _we _here," She paused, waving at the other two pointedly, "and we _all _agree that this is the best plan, okay? Just... think about it. Please?"

When she got up, looking pointedly at Naruto, it was obvious that Naruto had expected more, maybe even an immediate yes, and the blond shot him a pleading look that he shook his head at. He was set on saying no, and as Sakura started to pull Naruto off to leave, he thought he'd be fine with that.

Sasuke, however, stayed behind, and was watching him with his arms folded until the other two were clearly in the front room getting on their shoes. "Kakashi. You're our family."

The dark eyes stayed fixed on him, really pressing the weight of the words into him, reminding him of who was saying them, and only then did the younger man turn and follow the other two, waiting for no reply from the stunned Hokage the three left in their wake.

Unlike Naruto, he hadn't expected an immediate answer.

That didn't mean he wasn't just as invested in getting one apparently.


	2. Chapter 2

If he wasn't counting the time incorrectly, the first inklings of the plan that led to Kakashi being... ambushed, for a lack of better term, had started about a year and a half prior.

It was a day when he'd been in the village, with he and Sakura once again skirting each other and trying to figure out how they fit together now that so much had changed, that he found out that Naruto had broken up with Hinata. It wasn't spectacular, nor messy, but it seemed that they had, after a year together, come to the unanimous conclusion that for all that there was love, it didn't mean that they had the ability to make one another happy.

For Hinata, he later learned, it was deeply upsetting, but somehow expected, that her childhood dreams simply weren't met in reality by the person she'd been pinning them on. Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't understand what he'd done wrong. He couldn't figure out where the disconnect had been, and blamed himself for not having been able to make it work with someone who so clearly loved him. Hinata had gone to her team for comfort, and Naruto had come to Sakura. At least, he'd tried to.

Sasuke couldn't much blame him that Sakura was the one that first came to mind for that. At least, in terms of people their age. It's not like he was any kind of font of support now, nor had he been pretty much ever. Still, it bothered him to see Naruto falling apart even a little after how profoundly they'd changed the basis of their relationship, and he'd done the only thing he could do. He'd intercepted and sent the man off to Iruka before Sakura even got wind that anything was going on. Then again, she hadn't even been home when Naruto had come by, and Sasuke was just gong to be grateful that Naruto hadn't questioned what Sasuke was doing at her place.

It would be far too embarrassing to admit that he'd broken into her apartment to clean because last time he'd been there the place had made his skin crawl.

The redirection had worked. It had helped Naruto pull himself together before he could slide too far into introspection, a mercy, he was sure, as the next time he saw him, while the blond wasn't _happy_, he didn't look like he'd just been stabbed and was wondering how he'd failed to dodge. He would know, he'd seen exactly that look on Naruto's face in the past.

Still, somehow... he'd failed to take into account that this was Naruto. Naruto didn't do anything by halves, and if he felt like he'd messed up in a relationship, he was going to go out of his way to find the flaw, then train it right out of existence. Sasuke had, somehow, managed to completely overlook the most important part of that idea.

Naruto tended to use him as a focus anytime he did just about anything. He may feel like he failed Hinata, but it was Sasuke he was going to set his sights on to work out the kinks with before taking another run at her. In later reflection, Sasuke was sure that that had been Naruto's thinking.

It didn't actually work out like that at all though. No, instead Naruto had thrown the idea at Sasuke, and Sasuke, being the wise person he was, closed the door in Naruto's face and told him to go away. He'd even been tempted to further remove himself from the situation by requesting a mission, but he wasn't heartless, and he didn't want to kick Naruto back into whatever pit he was trying to use him to crawl out of.

He could already imagine the disaster if he went after Sakura with this idea. It ended with Naruto smeared across the floor, of course. He doubted he'd pick that temporary person who'd tried to claim team seven status during the war, thankfully, but did he really want to risk it? Probably not.

None of that mattered though, because as soon as Sasuke had closed the door on the blond, said blond had started pounding on the door insisting that he at least heard him out. It gave him time to think over the repercussions, to recall Naruto's stubborn stupidity, and to think of how terrible for just about everyone it would be if Naruto actually got an okay from someone who didn't really get it.

He yanked open the door during a lull in the pounding, then smoothly turned to the side so Naruto fell on the floor instead of him when he'd been about to resume. "Fine. Talk."

That was all the permission that Naruto needed apparently, and the blond was up off the floor, chattering before he could even get the door closed. "Okay, so I have it all worked out! It's super simple, see, I just need a dry run at a relationship. You know, working out how to do all the things that I think she wanted me to do and I didn't know I was supposed to? Then bam, I go swoop her off her feet once I'm practiced and everything's all sorted out."

"...Dobe, do you even know why you actually broke up?" He turned, heading back into his apartment without a word. It was still odd, not having a whole district to roam, or even a _house_... but it might have been for the best that it was ruined in the fighting and he had to start fresh.

"Teme. Yeah! Of course I know. I mean, she said." When Naruto fumbled for words, he just moved off to the kitchen to start working on dinner, the blond trailing after him as he tried to remember. "Um. She said that I don't pay attention to anything, and that maybe we weren't good for each other as more than friends. Yeah! That was it! So if I fix that then bam, all better, right?"

"No." He didn't continue, instead taking out the things he needed for the meal.

"Ehhh? What do you mean 'no'? It's foolproof!" Naruto was stomping around, but not sitting. That meant he was probably actually listening. No reason not to spell it out then.

"No, it's not. Did it not occur to you that she might have really wanted to just be friends again?" He worked steadily, carefully assembling everything as he kept an ear firmly on the restless blond behind him. "Some people are better that way."

"Nuh uh! No way! I mean. You and me are way closer than friends and it works out better for us that it's like that, so why wouldn't that work with her? I mean, she loves me, it's supposed to just _work _when you love someone, isn't it?" Sasuke had no need to look to know that Naruto was flailing his hands around.

"No. It's not." This time there was more steel in the denial, and he cut the carrot he had in his hand with a bit more force than strictly required.

It seemed that that had silenced Naruto pretty effectively, and though he could feel the blond's eyes on him, he didn't say anything for several minutes after that, letting him work in peace. He ended up actually stilling when Naruto did speak however, since his tone a lot softer than he was used to hearing out of him. It was oddly subdued. Honest. Apologetic even. "I guess- I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking about it like that."

Instead of speaking, Sasuke just hitched up a shoulder in a shrug, then moved to wash his hands, back rigidly straight as he kept himself focused on his tasks, clearing the counter of debris. He lingered back at the sink, letting the silence draw out without looking at the blond.

"So... did you say no because of it being a Hinata thing, or because I was weirding you out?" The tone was lighter this time, and it was clear that Naruto was trying to bring the topic back to his original one.

Sasuke was irritated with himself that he actually felt grateful about that. "I said no because you're an idiot. No two people are the same, so dating one won't make you good at dating a different one."

The last thing he expected after drying his hands was for Naruto to be as close as he was when he turned around, his expression thoughtful. It was enough to alarm him a little, because the context wasn't one he was sure he knew how to approach. "Yeah... I guess you're right. Wanna give it a try anyway?"

"I am not being your practice relationship." He ducked around Naruto, moving to get dishes to set out at his table, his tone more clipped than it maybe should have been. Or maybe exactly as clipped as it should have been. Hard to say.

"Yeah, I got that... so. Maybe a real one?" He held up his hands defensively against the sharp look that earned him. It seemed Naruto wasn't completely filled with bad ideas today, only mostly. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! I'm just saying... maybe since we finally sorted out all our problems it might be better to, you know, go for the guy I know I love and know the rules for handling, and maybe, you know, go from there."

"You know that me and Sakura were talking about dating, don't you?" Which wasn't a no, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell Sakura that he was bowing out if this happened. He'd disappointed her enough without throwing another rejection on top of the pile. Besides... He didn't only want to try dating her for her sake.

Naruto chewed on his lip for a moment, clearly stumped by this question, but it didn't last. It never lasted. "In that case... Maybe I'll just have to ask her too and date you both!"

He had a death wish, that was the only thing he could come up with. "Just like that?"

"Yep! I mean, if I told her you were good with it it would probably go a lot better than if I didn't tell her you were good with it though so... are you good with it?" And there went Naruto rubbing at the back of his head, a nervous gesture he hadn't seen in months. He was really starting to get the sense that he was serious about all this.

So, Sasuke being how he was, he gave the only answer that he could that made any sense to him. He washed his hands of the whole thing. He could count on Sakura to handle Naruto. She was good at it. "...Fine. Don't blame me if she doesn't agree."

Naruto just grinned, then let the topic move on to other things, pestering him about what he was making, and otherwise just making a nuisance of himself. He'd stayed for dinner, and Sasuke had expected that to be the end of that, problem solved.

Instead, a week later the pair had come to sit him down and work out the exact terms of what the relationship was going to be. Or more like, tell him what they'd come up with and make sure he hadn't backed out of it in the meantime.

He hadn't, of course, but it had still taken months for them to really get used to the little changes that took them from teammates over into dating. The first few weeks had been an agony of awkward 'casual' touches and insistence on paying for things when they didn't have to on the behalf of the other two. And him? He felt like he hadn't gotten anywhere by agreeing to this save that Sakura was more relaxed around him instead of seeming so off balance every time they were alone. Clearly, it didn't last though, and it all changed the day that Sakura got fed up with something that Naruto was saying and kissed him to quiet him instead of using her fists.

They'd both been surprised, but after that? It hadn't been awkward anymore, that melting away into a higher level of affection that Sasuke sometimes still wasn't sure how to handle. However, he did find it nice, even if he was poor at reciprocating.

That didn't mean that they were perfectly in accord about everything though. Not even close. No, they still fought, even months into their relationship, and it was during one of those fights that Sasuke had noticed something was a bit off about Kakashi. It had been a distraction, looking in on the man. A whim while he was irritated at whatever stupid thing Naruto had said that day. He hadn't expected anything to come of it really. Maybe a conversation, something to cool his head before going back to deal with the blond idiot he had the dubious pleasure of calling his boyfriend.

Instead, he'd come face to face with someone who looked more haggard than he could ever remember seeing the man, even more so than when they'd been genin and he'd practically been comatose for over a day. No, this was a different kind of look, deeper and heavy in a way that distracted him from his irritations and made them seem less important by far. Kakashi wasn't meant to look like that, and while he'd stayed a little while, just sharing silence and observing his former sensei, he'd quickly come to the conclusion that this needed to be put to his teammates.

A solution needed to be found.

Of course they had to see for themselves, and over the next few weeks, all three of them spent time around the man, talking to him and seeing what they could do individually before sharing their observations with each other. Kakashi wasn't doing well. He was listless, and even for him seemed too tired. He wasn't spending enough time away from the office. He didn't seem to be eating enough. He was almost never spotted doing his reading anymore.

The list kept going, and the observation notes spread from only him to encompass the people around him, the ones he spent time with, the ones he used to. Naruto even had the gall to go and question Gai, and when that failed, asked Iruka to do it. Slightly better results had come of that, and some rather strange ones too, but it hadn't helped clear up how Kakashi had gotten to the state he was in now, just that no one seemed to be able to break in and fix it.

Which left it to them.

The suggestion, initially, had come from Sakura, and was meant as a jest.

She'd fully expected the idea of dragging Kakashi into their relationship 'since it had helped them so much' to get shot down and stay there.

Sasuke could have told her that suggesting anything that was meant as a joke to Naruto was a recipe to make sure it went ahead and became a reality. In fact, that she even did so, knowing how Naruto was, made him wonder at times if she'd done it on purpose so that Naruto would think that it was the best idea ever and do exactly what he'd ended up doing.

Taking it seriously and getting them both on board to make it happen.

Of course, it took months of careful watching after that before they did anything that involved Kakashi directly, but by then, they were very _very_ sure, and no one could say that any of them weren't stubborn.

If that was a good thing would remain to be seen.


	3. Chapter 3

He knew that his teammates thought him the impatient kind, but sometimes he wondered if that was because they didn't look at him as a whole picture so much as snapshots. He'd been a prankster, then he'd been a student of someone who tested even the most patient of people... to say nothing of the Sasuke situation, so he had to wonder, why, exactly, he'd sometimes get worried glances from the other two when he got excited about the whole Kakashi deal.

Maybe part of it had been the lack of much of a time lapse between Hinata and them, just a few weeks really, but now that he had them, he knew what hadn't been working with _her_ and he was kind of glad he figured it out sooner rather than later. Not because Hinata wasn't awesome. No, Hinata was really really awesome in a totally badass way... and he wanted her to keep being that. Somehow, while they'd been together, that had started to crumble away, and he hadn't really liked it. He knew that he'd been trying too hard too, to be someone that she'd want to stay with, so he hadn't been himself either. Not his real self, full with rudeness and direct points, not just the hero that people could look up to and knew the right thing. That hadn't been right for either of them.

But now, she was with Shino, and he was with Sakura and Sasuke. Soon enough, he'd have Kakashi-sensei too, and then all his family would have _someone._ Sai and Yamato had paired off somewhere along the way when he wasn't looking, though if they were actually dating or not he had no idea. He just knew they shared an apartment and were seen together a lot and that was good enough for him. And Iruka-sensei... he totally knew that Kakashi's best friend would be good for him, because there was no way that man would ever falter. He'd seen him in action too many times, and in the last months watching the way the guy tried to learn about Iruka-sensei while trying to help Kakashi? It made him a whole lot less worried about the idea of Iruka-sensei ever ending up alone, or with someone who wouldn't make him happy.

So, because he didn't have to worry about any of that, he could focus on Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi. He had to make sure not to call him sensei anymore as much as possible. It was a big deal, in a lot of ways, that he was one of the only people who that really stuck to... but he kind of got the whole 'it's icky to be with your teacher' thing and he really _really_ didn't want to set that off by accident and make the man resist even _harder_ to the idea of just giving them a chance. He'd already, in the last week, turned down two invitations to come out with them that were expressed in a way that wasn't clearly platonic. Then again, he hadn't been the one asking, and he knew that made a difference.

Neither of his teammates had patience.

Some people would look at him like he was crazy to hear that, but it was true! He only got impatient about things that weren't life shatteringly important. Ramen was important enough to make him a little impatient to get to, but he had the patience to wait once he got to it. Sasuke, he'd wanted home desperately, but he'd been careful, he'd composed himself and he'd _waited_ until he could pull him back how he needed to. Much as he'd wanted to knock him out and drag him... he'd known, somewhere in his chest, that that method would be futile and make all his work completely _pointless_. So he'd fought, and fussed, and yelled, but he'd known it would only happen in its own good time and he just had to wait it out.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had the bad habit of taking the first avenue that presented itself and hanging onto it with complete tenacity. If it was bad for him, or for his goals, it didn't matter. He'd still do it. He was stubborn, not patient, and Naruto was bewildered to find himself hedging around the other man to keep him from spooking Kakashi off by rushing things. Sakura wasn't patient. She was fatalistic. She was also a romantic, and somehow expected everything to just fall into place all by itself, which Naruto knew just didn't happen. It was a horrible combination that meant that somehow, some way, Naruto was the one pacing this thing.

He was the one that insisted that they wait the extra months to properly map Kakashi's habits. He was the one who insisted that they give him a few days to mull over their proposition. He'd wanted longer but Sakura had ruined _that_ plan, so he'd just have to figure a way around it and get to Kakashi-sensei another way.

Currently, he was in a bookstore, looking for a few books from a series he'd seen Kakashi-sensei had a few of, but not all of, because he knew they'd only just gotten released in the village and were not well advertised. Better to go with a peace offering in hand and finally get the man to _relax_.

The last thing he needed was for Kakashi to run for the hills because they spooked him. Thus, books.

A romance series, to be exact, though he knew that the other two didn't know that's what they were. They had the idea that all that the man read was porn, even after all this time, but they hadn't read any of the things that Kakashi did just to see. Sure, the Icha Icha series could be pretty steamy, but they were mainly romances at heart, and he was totally going to indulge that to see how far it got him. And maybe, if that worked, he'd finish that book he'd been picking at for the last few years and give the first copy to him too.

But that'd come after they got him to say yes. And he wouldn't mention it beforehand because that would be cheating.

He didn't want to cheat to get Kakashi to be with them, not even a little, because that would just come back and bite them in the ass. He didn't want the man to regret anything about the relationship, because regretting things is what made them fall apart, and that just... wouldn't work.

He wanted his family, once they were all happy, to _stay_ happy, and he wasn't about to fuck that up.

Still, a little bribery wasn't the same thing as cheating, and he kept this firmly in mind as he paid for his purchase, an almost idle sounding inquiry being put out there about if Kakashi had been by for any books lately. He'd asked similar things often enough that the book seller wasn't really cautious about answering these days, something he'd have to look into, later, but the answer made him worry for other reasons too. Kakashi hadn't been by in weeks.

He'd thought he was on top of that situation, but clearly, trying to wrangle the other two had him slipping and that just wasn't something that could keep happening. If they couldn't juggle the situation now, it would be a mess once they got Kakashi in properly. Better not to let on that anything was wrong though, otherwise the man would pick up on it and use it as another excuse.

No one needed to be giving that man anymore excuses to play 'avoid the romantic entanglement' than he already had. If anything, the big goal of the day was to try to put some, if not all, of those excuses to rest. He just wished that he knew what all of them were. Sure, he knew a lot of them. Age difference, former sensei, Hokage, and that was one he found both adorable and stupid, the _mask_ he was sure was on there somewhere even, but seriously, they'd lived this long without a proper look at him, and it would just be weird to change that anyway.

Kakashi just had to look at the monument if he wanted proof about people not trying to get him to change that. Which Naruto was, in fact, currently doing, the looking that is, as he made his way through the village to the eatery he was almost completely sure that his former sensei would be at just now.

Getting him to said eatery, at least, had taken careful observation, maneuvering, and puppy eyes to accomplish, none of which had been directed at Kakashi directly. Then again, even if they had been, the man had an unholy resilience to puppy eyes. He blamed Uhei. That dog, of all of them, had impressive puppy eyes when he whipped them out, in Naruto's opinion. He knew he was outvoted about that but that was fine by him. He knew the truth.

Ultimately though, it was a fruitful endeavor, one which didn't lead to Kakashi's feelings of being hunted ratcheting up like Sasuke's intense stares were doing, nor would it inspire flight like Sakura's perky inquiries. He understood why both of them were so _bad_ at this, since they'd been targeting each other practically forever, but why was he the only one who seemed to be able to afford a clue? There was something seriously uncool about that, somehow. Which was why he was the one slipping into the tea shop and making his way over to drop across from Kakashi without even a hint of dancing around the man.

If you acted like everything was normal, then the people around you were more likely to too. "Hey Kakashi!" He only just caught the 'sensei' and covered it with a bright smile as the man's gaze slowly turned to pin him. And wow, it was weird still to see both eyes at once in that face.

"Naruto." There was a beat of pause after his name was stated, like Kakashi didn't know how to keep going. Maybe he didn't. In fact, that wouldn't surprise him at all, what with the man not being naturally chatty in the first place. "What do you want?"

But clearly he was more wary than even Naruto had been expecting, if he was already skipping to the point. Crap. He could work with this though, and he would. He whipped out the book, offering it without any hesitation at all. "I want to give you this, and I want to apologize." He could see he'd caught the man off guard, and he flashed him a grin. It was cute, okay. Kakashi had always been a cute sensei, even when he'd thought he was old. "Yeah. I'm sorry that we've been freaking you out. So. Apology present."

Reaching out slowly, like the book might bite him, was still reaching out, and Naruto felt a rush of pride when his gift was accepted by the older man. Good. The first part of this whole thing was finally... somewhere. Best not to get too get too excited though. "Why apologize?"

"C'mon Kakashi, I'm not stupid. I knew before we asked you that you wouldn't just up and say yes, that we'd have to work for it but... we could have done it better anyway. I mean, we've never even talked about why it's wigging you out! I know the other two haven't. They're too romantic for all that, you know? Well, Sakura is. Sasuke is just Sasuke." He knew he didn't need to explain _that_ further, and nodded decisively, catching a hint of something that was definitely a smile under the mask. Excellent.

"That they are. I don't think even if we discuss what is... ah... 'wigging me out' that it will help though." His hesitance in using his phrasing was making him think about it though, Naruto could tell, and that was a victory all by itself.

"Maybe, and if that's how it's going to be, well, that sucks a lot. That doesn't mean I don't want to try, okay? Pretty please? Let me fix it?" Naruto leaned on the table, giving him probably useless puppy eyes over pleadingly folded hands, his elbows braced as he did so.

It took about two minutes of staring before Kakashi caved, heaving a sigh from deep in his chest. "I'm not making any promises."

The puppy eyes were gone in an instant, his hands sweeping up the tea cup that had been added to the table while the stare off was going down so he could fill it. "That's okay! I'm not asking for promises. Promise."

"Right." Kakashi's voice was exceptionally dry, but that meant the man was comfortable, and that was _good,_ so Naruto decided to just be happy about it. "What are you three trying to accomplish with me? Is this a pity thing?"

Not... where Naruto had actually expected Kakashi to start this conversation. He couldn't find it in him to consider this a bad thing though, and he shook his head immediately. "Not even close. It was Sakura's idea you know, after Sasuke noticed you weren't happy I mean. He's the one who got all of us looking in on you more, wow, a year and a half ago now? It was a while anyway." He could tell that answer surprised Kakashi, but he didn't pause to let the man get the thought further into his head. Not yet anyway. "Then after we did some research she mentioned it, you know? I'm pretty sure she thought she was joking, but I didn't really have to convince her at all when we tried to learn more about what you'd like, if you'd like us. We did check you know, if you weren't tangled up in someone else and we'd missed it. We didn't want to step on any toes and make anything bad for you."

The dryness was gone for something more cautious, and Naruto knew he'd have to tread carefully if the man got uneasy on him. But honesty at this point was important too. "How long ago was that?"

"Few months. Well, more than half a year actually but... we had to be sure. If we weren't sure, then how would we know that you could be sure about us if we got you to say yes, see? We _know_ you're older than us. We know you used to teach us, but come on, that was a really long time ago now. We're not kids anymore. We were trying to pad the distance a bit, and I don't think we came at it the right way. I'm sorry about that too. You shouldn't have ever felt alone just because we had growing up to do, and you did." He was careful about it, but reached over, touching the back of Kakashi's hand with just his fingertips, taking care not to hinder his movement at all. "I just want to be sure that never happens again, if that's okay with you?"

It was a victory that Kakashi didn't pull away, though his fingers did flatten against the book on the tabletop with a slow sort of precision that said he was thinking about if he should leave it at that. Ultimately, his staying put was the important part though. "You three don't have to do it this way, you do realize that, right? There's no need to offer _this_."

Naruto gave him a soft, warm smile then, nodding his head and meeting his gaze full on, every bit of sincerity he could give in that look. "Yeah, Kakashi, I know. I want to, and so do they, okay?"

Kakashi didn't move for a long, long moment, and when he finally did, it was to close his eyes and sigh. "Okay."

He waited until Kakashi opened his eyes again before speaking, tone gentle and, for him especially, soft. "Is that a yes?"

The murmur was almost a sigh in and of itself, but it was fond, more at ease than anything he'd said since Naruto had seated himself. "That's a yes."

Thrilled, but knowing not to push his luck, Naruto gave Kakashi's hand a quick squeeze, then got to his feet. "I'll let the others know, yeah? See you later Kakashi. I really hope you like the book."

He could feel the look being leveled on him as he moved, but it wasn't a bad one, so that was okay. In fact, he only grinned when Kakashi gave him nothing more than a nod for goodbye before he left the building, and gave him a wave in turn.

_That_ was how you talked Kakashi around.

And the other two thought he was the unsubtle one who didn't have patience.

Yeah. Right.


	4. Chapter 4

When all was said and done, Sakura knew that things had worked their way to being pretty much exactly where she wanted them to be. She had her boys, _all_ her boys, and that, at least, made everything somewhat perfect.

At least, it would if she could convince everyone to live in the same place.

It was a struggle, sometimes, wrangling a group of orphans who had lived alone all their lives to actually work with her on this front, but so far, she'd done rather well. Naruto had gone out, explored dating other people, found it not to his taste, and returned back to her and Sasuke, as he always did. Admittedly, she'd been prepared to lose him in that venture, since Hinata was a beautiful person, and just about everyone and their dog, if Akamaru was to be counted, knew that she'd been in love with Sakura's blond idiot for practically their entire lives.

It was a disaster waiting to happen. Hinata, wonderful girl that she was, was oblivious to her quietest teammate the same way Naruto had been oblivious to _her_ for the longest time, but Sakura had been, at that point, doing her best not to be greedy. If Naruto had been happy with someone else, she hadn't planned to swoop in and get in the middle of that. Especially not when she finally had Sasuke home and at least receptive on the surface of things. So she'd given Naruto advice, and if she happened to be _thoroughly horrified_ that Hinata apparently ranked on the level with noodles... well. What business had that been of hers?

Naruto had needed to figure that out on his own, so she'd let him, and with perfect vision into the past... It was easy enough to say that it was clear to her that Hinata, for all her admiration and love for Naruto, attraction even, had not known him well enough to know how to handle for his sheer obliviousness and immaturity in all things relationship. Then again, she was pretty sure that Hinata was also not prepared for her own reaction to the bravado, and she'd been able to tell that Hinata was unsettled the longer it went on by how much she'd wanted to be the princess to Naruto's prince.

As soon as Sakura had figured it out, she'd made sure to let Hinata know, carefully, of course, what she'd observed. Two months later, and that relationship had been gently, but firmly, set aside for friendship by Hinata. It only took a few months after that for Shino to start offering Hinata flowers that his kikai especially liked and, with Hinata being Hinata, she actually understood the signals she'd been getting. The girl was, in all honesty, sickeningly adorable with her new guy, and Sakura couldn't be happier for her. That it had started the beautiful train wreck of her own relationship was just icing on the proverbial cake.

Naruto going to proposition Sasuke had been downright predictable, and she was forever thankful the blond had very clear patterns. Mess something up, challenge Sasuke, ask Sakura on a date, try again. Repeat until goal is accomplished or someone punches him hard enough in the head to make him stop. In this instance, no punching had been required, though after he'd left that day she'd laughed herself sick over the progression being 'break up with girlfriend, try to get boyfriend, try to get boyfriend _and_ girlfriend' instead this time. Which she'd allowed to work. She'd seen how absolutely smug Naruto was being about the whole thing after she agreed, as well as his startled wonder... and she was happy enough to put that there.

There had been no telling how long her and Sasuke would have circled at the not-quite-dating-but-still-spoken-for level if not for that interference. She'd been sick of it within a month so gratuitous application of Naruto to agitate the system was practically a godsend by that point.

And then Kakashi... Of the three of them, she'd spent the most time with Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke had left the village, left _them_ and had forged paths that meant it was just her and Kakashi against the world. Yes, she started learning under Tsunade, but all that did was leave her with Kakashi as a _friend_ instead of an authority figure, the captain of whatever team she ended up with when they went on missions together. They could rely on one another, and there was some assurance in knowing that someone would know, for both of them, if they were away too _long_ on a mission, and needed a rescue.

She still felt guilty that during the acclimation with the boys, she'd let that fall to the wayside. She'd untethered Kakashi and left him adrift while she'd been getting another boat settled into dock, and it was the stupidest thing. It had made his skittishness of her hurt doubly, because she hadn't expected it, once she'd gotten her two morons on board with getting the man, and she couldn't help but feel it never would have been an issue if she hadn't let herself be distracted. It was stupid, irritating, and absolutely something she'd done her level best to make sure never happened again in the months since they'd finally coaxed him around to their way of thinking.

Namely, kisses, hugs, hand holding, cuddling on park benches, and generally just being a sap. Some of these things, of course, were far more intimate than others. Hand holding was a big deal for any shinobi, for instance, but for Kakashi, was still a step below kisses, real kisses that were more than a nuzzle on the cheek with the mask on that is. She didn't know, and had never asked, why the mask, and she had the suspicion the other two never had either. She was just thrilled the day that he'd meandered out of the bathroom after a shower, fully aware that she was sitting in his living room, and hadn't put it on first.

The stupid man was prettier than the other two and she'd never felt so ridiculously outclassed and turned on at the same time in her life as she had in that moment. She'd managed to confine her reaction to widened eyes and a deliberate once over, and that had been that. Getting a proper lip to lip kiss, no matter how clumsy, had been a bonus after the fact. An awesome bonus, one she'd carefully taken advantage of to encourage him to step it up and really get the clue about her _interest_, but a bonus none the less.

After that, things had gotten easier, and some heaviness in the air had dissipated, letting them all be more at ease around each other. It made sense, she supposed, given the awkward mess that she, Naruto, and Sasuke had been before she'd laid one on the blond to just get the tension over with. Obviously, kisses were the best solution to all awkwardness and should never be underestimated.

Unfortunately, nice as they were, she had no doubt in her mind they would be thoroughly inadequate to the task of getting her boys into her house. The other three all had apartments, so her house was really the most sensible option and she knew that. But clearly they did not. As it was, sleep-overs were frequent, increasingly so, and with increasing numbers of people. In fact, just the night before, by dawn she'd had all three men in her house, not in her bed, no, that was asking for someone to get knifed in their sleep, but in the house. Sasuke had been making some breakfast when she'd woken, Naruto was practically smothering her in her sleep, and Kakashi was reading on the couch. Seeing him reading again was a relief all its own, but she'd feel better about mornings like that if they were a touch more predictable.

Or frequent.

They'd left only a few small things in her house, her boys, but they hadn't left anything that couldn't be taken away again in one trip. Sure, she knew the younger two had lived like that for a long time... but it still rankled. So, Sakura being Sakura, she came at it in the way that made the most sense to her.

She started buying them stuff.

Admittedly, some people would see that as passive aggressive, but she liked to think of it as subtly proactive instead. If she was honest, she was sure that her method of gentling them into the idea of living at her place was working better to get them used to the idea than just demanding they do it would have. Baby steps, and all that.

This why Kakashi had a fuzzy blanket that lived on the couch now, and Naruto had acquired a new sleep hat, to say nothing of all the new cooking and cleaning supplies in the house for Sasuke to play with. And the pillows too. So many pillows. That one, at least, was all on Sasuke, as he'd been the first to bring one of his own, and then she'd had to add another every time he was over because he didn't let anyone else have _any_ of them. It was a silly, adorable thing, but she'd encouraged it. Pillows were big, inconvenient things that meant comfort in a space, and she badly wanted him to be comfortable in her space.

The other two were harder, but not unreasonably so, and over the months, years now, if she were looking at it from the start with Sasuke, of her relationship, she'd managed to outfit them with everything but shinobi gear. Kakashi even had a whole bookshelf of sappy romance living at her house these days, which he most definitely was not the only one reading.

She was still discontent though. She was a traditional girl, in some ways, and had always wanted to be swept off her feet by a dashing someone at least a little, and she could honestly say that there had been very little sweeping going on in this relationship. If one discounted Sasuke's stealth cleaning habit, at least. She honestly had to wonder if he thought she wouldn't notice her house was cleaner when she'd been gone than if she'd been home, though she never mentioned it.

All of that meant that today was a bit of a surprise, because while she'd left for her shift at the hospital with all her boys in attendance, she hadn't really thought that she'd return home to it. Kakashi was Hokage, after all, and they all knew that meant the man never had any time. The boys were usually out training when she got home, or just out in general, on top of that, so the sounds of voices, three distinct voices, when she opened her door, was welcome, but confusing. More so, was the array of small changes in her entranceway, which was new weapons, a new bowl with change and keys in it, and a few other things it simply had not had when she'd left the premises.

Moving deeper into the house had her noting other things like that too, pictures scattered where there had been blank places, a sword hung up near the bookshelf, another bookshelf across from the one she'd had before. There was more, little things, and opening the closet to hang her jacket just had her nose to nose with coats that her boys hadn't actually been wearing because of the weather. Of course, there was also the Hokage hat hanging up beside the closet to keep it undamaged to stare at too. All in all, it was a very interesting, very _new_ phenomena, and she followed her ears to where the boys had been talking, though it seemed that they'd fallen silent once they realized she was home.

She hoped this was a good silence. In fact, she hoped this was the nervous 'don't be mad at us for moving in without asking' silence that she'd admittedly been looking forward to for ages. Moving into the kitchen meant getting confronted by three nervous looks, Naruto being the most obvious, and also the only one who seemed to be looking directly at her.

"I have your things in my house." That was not the opening that she'd been angling for at all. She could have winced at the bluntness of it, but, out was out, and she didn't try to snatch it back. Especially since it meant all three were peeking at her now. "Are they... all of your things?"

There were a few quick glances exchanged, then Naruto gave Kakashi a nudge in the back, which earned him an irritated look, before the man looked at her directly. "We noticed a few... hints that seemed to imply you might enjoy us moving in with you."

"Hints." Her tone was flat, but inside she was proud of them for finally catching the clue she'd been floating them. Very proud.

The gaze leveled on her was almost suspicious then, but he confirmed it anyway. "Hints. You know. Like you starting to steal things from our apartments to put in your house?"

Okay, so maybe _that_ particular clue hadn't been terribly subtle, but as far as invitations went, it seemed to have worked. "I mostly just bought you new things."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, exchanging another glance with the other two. "You could have just asked us if you wanted us to move in Sakura-chan, you know that right? We wouldn't have said no."

She eyed them in turn, her look skeptical, eyes narrowed just a little as she evaluated his sincerity. "After all the fuss you three gave about getting into the relationship in the first place? Really?"

Sasuke snorted, clearly amused by her logic, then shook his head and moved to start collecting things to make dinner without a word. Kakashi was not so subtle in his amusement, fingers pressed over his lips through his mask as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

Naruto just grinned at her. "Really really Sakura-chan. We love you too."

She looked from one to the other, seeing them all _happy _and whole in a way that a few years before had looked beyond impossible, and felt a deep satisfaction settle into her bones. "Yeah, I suppose you do, don't you?"

Perhaps she'd been too hasty in assuming that everything wasn't already perfect after all.


End file.
